News
Iran pitches huge gas reserves for Asia markets
Iran is pitching its massive gas sector for trade with Asia where it sees a better market for exports than Europe. “Gas prices are more attractive in East Asia than in Europe,” Deputy Petroleum Minister for trade and international affairs Amir-Hossein Zamaninia has said. In August, Japan ...
Garment factories to buy into automation
Investors in Cambodia’s garment industry are increasingly purchasing modern equipment as they look to produce higher value-added products to compete in the international market and counter rising labour costs, an industry insider said on August 22. Akai Lin, project manager of Yorkers Trade & Marketing Service, ...
Southeast Asian countries’ growth to accelerate commodities rebound
China may be slowing, but a commodities rebound is under way and the world’s biggest miner knows where the next growth story is building — emerging economies in Southeast Asia.Combined gross domestic product in the ASEAN-5 nations — Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam ...
Shrimp grown in tanks make a splash, coming to a market near you
Americans love shrimp. We import about $5 billion worth of it from all over the globe, including from India, Thailand and Indonesia. But over the past year, we’ve learned more about the downsides of global shrimp production. The Associated Press uncovered slave labor in Southeast Asia, ...
Cambodia supporting Timor-Leste for ASEAN
Cambodia once again renewed its support of Timor-Leste becoming the 11th member of ASEAN and a member of the World Trade Organization, according to a statement on August 21. During his visit to Timor-Leste on August 19-20, Prime Minister Hun Sen also said Cambodia would provide ...
Targeted strategies to boost exports being devised
The ministry’s International Trade Promotion Department will allocate the largest proportion of its trade-promotion budget for ASEAN markets, focusing on Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. Malee Choklumlerd, director-general of the department, said it had been allocated a budget of Bt2 billion for the upcoming fiscal year, and ...
ASEAN urged to chart own course
ASEAN, now on its first year of economic unification, needs to decouple from China and become much better at telling the global community about its economic prospects, Citi’s regional fund services experts said. In the past, ASEAN had benefited from its robust trade with China, with ...
China, ASEAN aim to complete framework of South China Sea rules next year
China and a grouping of Southeast Asian nations aim to finish by the middle of next year a framework for a code of conduct to ease tension in the disputed South China Sea, state media said on August 17. Meeting in northeastern China, the two sides ...
Southeast Asian economy grew 4.6% in April-June
The Southeast Asian economy is recovering, posting the sharpest growth in a year and a half in the April-June quarter. The real gross domestic product of five major countries in the region – Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines – expanded 4.6% from a year earlier, surpassing the 4.4% ...
Indonesian president vows to fund ‘massive’ maritime infrastructure program
President Joko Widodo vowed on August 16 to develop all of Indonesia’s frontier areas, including the Natuna Islands close to where it is embroiled in a dispute with China, and outlined plans to fund a massive maritime infrastructure program to accelerate growth in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. “We ...
